Month: April 2014

This is a follow up to my previous post about the 1911 Commanders. Every gun writer who gives the weight of a gun does it unloaded, as do the manufacturers. I wonder why, since none of us carry an unloaded gun for personal protection. Anyway, I decided to do my own measurements in regard to my carry guns and I weighed them on a digital scale fully loaded. Here’s what I found:

Weight (oz.)        Gun
41.75                    Ruger 1911 Commander
44                         Remington R1 Carry Commander
34                         S&W 1911 SCE Commander
43.85                    Remington R1 Carry (full size)
44                         Springfield Loaded 1911
36                         S&W M&P 45
39.35                    Springfield XDm 45
34.6                      S&W M&P 9mm
40                         Colt SAA 45
34.55                    Glock 22

Based on the weights I recorded there really is a decided advantage in the Scandium/Aluminum frame of the S&W 1911 SCE Commander as compared to the Ruger or Remington Commanders, but I’ll tell you honestly that with my Crossbreed SuperTuck IWB holster, I don’t really feel it. Maybe my back does with an all day carry, but I’m not consciously aware of the weight when I put on the gun or go through the day. Bottom line for me is 1) a good holster and 2) a good, heavy duty gun belt. People don’t really pay attention to me when I stress the importance of a good gun belt, but if they carry for any length of time, they’ll figure it out.

 

 

If you’ve been reading my blog posts lately you know I’ve gravitated toward Commander-sized 1911s for my Concealed Carry handguns. I now have 3 and will use this space to refresh you on the previous two and introduce you to the third.

My first Commander-sized 1911 was the Ruger. It’s the gun that converted me into a 1911 fan. It’s one beautiful, fine-shooting firearm that is the best value I know in a 1911. Street prices are seldom above $750 and if you shop carefully and are patient, you might get one for just a little under $700. I know you can buy cheaper 1911s, but I personally don’t know where you can get this made-in-America quality for less. This gun has highly visible sights, though they’re not night sights and I find it to be very accurate. I’ve never had any type of failure to feed, failure to eject or any type of malfunction whatsoever.

My second Commander-sized 1911 was a Remington R1 Carry. Though it came with very attractive wood grips, I swapped them out for some desert tan CV custom grips. Although it’s not Stainless Steel like the Ruger, it has a very attractive and durable black satin finish. Its edges are all rounded to help with concealment. There are three things this gun has the Ruger doesn’t:  ambidextrous safety, checkered front strap, and a front night sight. Each of these adds a little value to the gun from my perspective. I like the ambidextrous safety for one reason only. It makes it easier to check to insure my safety is on when I’m wearing the gun. The checkered front strap helps a little with the grip since I changed out the factory grips for a thinner pair with a little less traction and the front night sight does help a little with aiming when it’s dark.

Number three is a Smith & Wesson 1911 SCE. The “S” stands for Scandium, the “C” for Commander and the “E” for enhanced. This gun is 10 ounces lighter than the other two because the frame is made of scandium reinforced aluminum. It has a bob tail, which really does help with concealed carry, and it has Trijicon night sights front and rear. It also has fish scale slide serrations front and rear. The 10 ounces and bob-tail make a difference, really.

I’d trust my life to any one of these guns. I’ve shot them each enough to have absolute confidence in their reliability and they are all capable of making one ragged hole at 10-15 feet. Lately, I’ve been carrying the S&W every day. Maybe because it’s new, maybe because it’s lighter. I’ll probably set them up on some sort of rotation because they’re all three too good to spend much time in the safe.